DEFRA Guidance Review

Whilst the AAL regulations will not be formally reviewed until the 5 year point of 2023, the DEFRA team have enabled a mini review of the Guidance.

The guidance is a complex set of documents which cover a range of activities and it was always recognised there may some teething problems hence the opportunity to make minor amendments. Within this review local authority inspectors, business and welfare experts have been asked where problems have arisen over the last year. The majority of comments have focused around sizing of units, the higher standards, the operating of franchisees/arrangers and the confusion surrounding the business test. The aim of this review was not to change the documents substantially so that it confused the trained inspectors and those who have obtained their annual licence but to tweak it so that it was more helpful to the aims of the licensing regime.